


This Time

by choomchoom



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Caminus, F/F, Femslash February, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Post-Transformers: Lost Light 25, Spoilers for Lost Light 25, loving and supporting Nautica, playing fairy godmother to your alternate universe quantum duplicate self
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 20:21:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17773604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/choomchoom/pseuds/choomchoom
Summary: The Lost Light stumbles on a familiar planet, and Lotty hatches a plan.





	This Time

Velocity knocked on Nautica’s door, bouncing on her heels in time with the knocks. Nautica was not getting to the door fast enough. Lotty had _news_.

“What? What’s the emergency?” Nautica finally threw the door open. She grabbed at Velocity’s arm with the hand that wasn’t gripping a datapad for dear life.

“No emergency. Well, maybe an emergency, but in a good way? That’s not how words work. Anyway, we found Caminus!”

“What?”

Perhaps she should have built up to that. Since the Lost Light had quantum jumped into a new universe, the crew’s lives had been defined by uncertainty. They’d emerged at a mystery location that wasn’t on any of the ship’s maps, surrounded by empty space. Nautica, Brainstorm, and Perceptor had needed to build a new Longer-Range scanner before Ultra Magnus was willing to risk the fuel to get them anywhere. Eventually they’d made it to a populated planet and gotten a better handle on their surroundings.

After a lot of discussion and a crew-wide vote, they’d decided to head towards Cybertron. Cybertron existed here, but it was thought of as a strange backwater, quietly existing in content semi-isolation. There had been no war, but everything else about the planet was a mystery.

And then they’d found Caminus.

“The Longer-Range picked up Cybertronian signals, so we got closer to check it out and see if we could get more information – I overheard Drift telling Ratchet about it in the Medibay. The only reason they haven’t announced it to the crew yet is that the meeting ended like half an hour ago. Anyway, the signals turned out to be Caminus! The ship’s right on course, so if we ask, I think they’ll let us go visit!”

“Oh,” Nautica said, blinking and finally releasing Velocity’s arm. “No.”

“No?” Velocity cocked her head as Nautica stepped back, looking like she was about to shut her door again.

“I don’t want to go back there. I don’t care that it’s another universe it’s… _Caminus_.” Nautica said the word with a vitriol that Velocity could feel digging into her spark.

“It’s home,” was all Velocity could think to reply.

Nautica’s optics were down, and she hugged the datapad to her chest. “My home is right here.”

Velocity inhaled, exhaled, reassessed. “Can I come in?” she asked. “There’s no reason to talk about this in the hallway.”

Nautica jerked her head in assent and Velocity walked into her quarters behind her.

Nautica’s room wasn’t decorated in typical Camien style, but of course it wouldn’t be. Velocity had the typical blue film coverings for her lights, like any Camien travelling far from home, and treasured her few sculptures and art pieces that she kept remind herself of the beautiful things in the world. Velocity had never thought much of the lack of Camien sensibilities in Nautica’s quarters – the room may not have looked like Caminus, but it looked like _Nautica_. There were photos of Skids and Nightbeat on a dedicated table in a corner, and space-themed paintings from all over the galaxy decorating the walls. Every surface was covered with books, blueprints, and drawings, except for the desk, which was reserved for a holographic 3D modeling setup.

“What’s this?” Velocity asked, gesturing to the last. A 3D object was set to rotating, surrounded by numbers that Velocity probably wouldn’t be able to interpret even if she stared at it for hours.

“Deep space anomaly, not too far from here. Perceptor says it’s probably an entrance to the Warren, but we didn’t want to risk taking the Lost Light through there when we can’t be sure if the map they have is correct in this universe. Besides, Rodimus keeps saying that it’s ‘about the journey.’” Nautica peeled one hand away from the datapad she was still clutching to her chest to do the air quotes. She sighed. “I’d love a chance to study it, though. I’m having the Longer-Range pick up as much data about it as I can while we’re in the area.”

“Cool.” Velocity may not understand it, but she could appreciate how alluring a blip in time and space as complex as the Warren must be – especially for Nautica. “So,” she said, looking up from the model. “Caminus?”

Nautica’s fingers drummed a quick beat on the ribbed edge of the datapad as she stared at the wall. “We’re supposed to be happy here, right? That’s the whole point of running off to this universe. So I don’t see why I should do something that I know won’t make me happy.” Nautica looked over at Velocity, lips pressed tightly together. “If it’s really important to you, I’ll go. But I’d just as soon never see that place again.”

Velocity nodded. “I…guess I understand.” Nautica had never really fit in on their home planet, but she’d never, to Velocity’s knowledge, been _sad_ about it. Her memories of the time they’d spent together on Caminus were defined by Nautica eagerly chattering about whatever subject she was interested in at the moment, exchanging playful gossip about the rest of the sorority, and generally enjoying themselves.

But as Velocity considered the memories, she acknowledged that she may not have been seeing the whole picture. Sure, maybe Nautica actually had been happy when they were hanging out together. But that time accounted for so little of Nautica’s life on Caminus. There had been all that time before they’d met, and both of them had their intense work and rehearsal schedules. Velocity couldn’t say she knew much at all about how Nautica had perceived her life on Caminus.

“Maybe Anode would want to join you? Or Lug, I don’t remember if she’s ever even been there.” Nautica’s mouth curved into a tiny smile, as she seemed to realize that Velocity wasn’t going to push her. “I’d say you should hand over the specs for the energon refinery that Prowl was – is, I suppose – going to build out of the Lost Light’s quantum engines, but they wouldn’t have a source of quantum energy to draw from – or an engineer to harness it.”

Velocity frowned. Her optics were drawn to the slowly rotating image of the nearby Warren entrance on the desk. Among lots of measurements that Velocity didn’t understand, there was the one number in units she recognized from a pre-medical physics class. Units of energy. “Maybe they do,” she said, still looking at the display.

“The Warren? Theoretically someone _could_ build a device that could capture and refine the energy coming out of that entrance…but it’s Caminus. Nobody there knows how to do that.”

Ah, and there it was. A plan. Velocity turned around and looked her oldest friend directly in the eye. “You do.”

Nautica looked confused for a fraction of a second, then hunched over, curling her fingers even tighter around the datapad. “I suppose if Caminus exists, it makes sense to assume that we do too,” she said. “No war means no Metroplex encountering the Ores. Means I’m still there.”

“What if we connected the dots?” Velocity asked, looking at the model of the Warren again to avoid Nautica reading any judgement from her face. “One of our goals out here is to help people, right? What if we started with alternate-universe you?”

Nautica laughed at that. “I’m sure the crew has better things to do.”

“We’re not in a hurry to get anywhere,” Velocity assured her. “It’s ‘about the journey’, remember? And it wouldn’t just be you – one push in the right direction, and all of Caminus is saved.”

Velocity couldn’t resist looking back at Nautica now. Nautica was looking down at the datapad she held, but the smile on her face was unmistakable.

Velocity waited, forcing herself to keep everything else she wanted to say – _I want to do this; you deserve to be happy –_ to herself. This had to be Nautica’s choice.

Nautica spoke without looking up. “We’d just have to expand the radius of her deep-space radio,” she said to her datapad. “It would be the same mod we did to make the Longer-Range, just simpler. She’d figure it out from there.”

Nautica looked up, meeting Velocity’s optics. Velocity diverted her gaze for a second before her processor caught up with her, assuring her that she’d already been caught staring. “So?” she asked.

Nautica’s face flickered through a number of emotions, settling on a smile that didn’t quite reach her optics. “Let’s go to Caminus.”

-

Breathing in the air here, Velocity realized for the first time that she’d missed this particular mix of scents. Caminus’s efficiency generators, the sculpture studios, the planet’s atmosphere, and everything else in the air that contributed to the unique fragrance of _home_.

They’d landed the shuttle on the outskirts of the sector they’d lived in most recently, which was filled with senior students and craftspeople who cared more about living in close proximity to their studios than the prestige of their homes. They’d had to use fake designations when they’d landed – luckily, it turned out that Lug _had_ visited other-universe Caminus, so they both had valid visitor ID tags.

Now they were standing at the entrance to the parking bay. Velocity held a bag of supplies and watched as Nautica looked out at the city spread before them, mouth downturned in a thoughtful frown.

“We’re lucky. It’s Team Meeting Night,” Nautica said.

Velocity checked for local public pings and found the same thing – shops would be closed to provide time for concerns to be addressed among residents. “It’s about half over already,” Velocity said, doing some quick calculations in her head. “Unless the schedule is different on this universe.”

“Of course that’d be our luck, when everything else seems to be exactly the same.” An edge of bitterness had crept into Nautica’s voice, enough for Velocity to glance at her with concern. Nautica pursed her lips and shook it off with a flick of her head. “Let’s go.” Nautica’s smaller bag of radio-tinkering supplies was in one hand. Her fingers tightened and loosened on the strap in an anxious beat.

They walked side by side through the least-traveled backroads they could think of and managed not to run into anyone. Then it was a matter of getting into Nautica’s second-story quarters, which Velocity had planned for.

Nautica let out a muffled giggle when Velocity finally got the rope looped around the balcony railing. Velocity grinned back at her – probably grinned too big, too excited. Probably she had no right to be this excited about a quest they were doing to make _Nautica_ happier. But the concept filled her spark with so much delight that she couldn’t help _but_ smile.

“Ready?” Velocity asked, trying to curb the enthusiasm from her voice. After all, the plan hadn’t actually _worked_ yet.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Nautica was smiling too, but there was a visible undercurrent of nervousness to it. She stepped into the makeshift harness that Velocity had tied into the rope and secured it around her waist.

Velocity started pulling on the rope, lifting Nautica into the air. She was too far from the building to support herself on it, but she helped herself up using the balcony supports. When she reached the right level, she climbed over the railing and slipped the harness off. She tied the end of the rope around the railing so Velocity could climb up after her.

Nautica’s thumbs-up when she finished securing the rope was half-shadow in the early evening darkness. Velocity started to climb as Nautica’s optics flicked between her and the spot where the rope was tied to the balcony railing. She reached forward as if to steady the setup somehow, then retracted her hand.

Velocity didn’t notice the problem until she had her feet braced against one of the supports and the railing screeched in warning. Before she had any time to react, it snapped.

Velocity braced herself for a fall onto the cold ground, but it never came. Lightning-fast, Nautica grabbed onto her wrist, her other hand squeezing the remaining part of the railing for purchase. “I’ve got you,” she said.

Velocity got her other hand on the floor of the balcony, and between the two of them they managed to pull Velocity the rest of the way up. The final push led to Velocity collapsing on top of Nautica on the balcony floor, too off-balance to land with dignity or get up for at least a second or two.

Vibrations of laughter in Nautica’s chest, which Velocity could feel from where it was pressed up against hers, helped.  Velocity felt herself start to chuckle too, as if Nautica’s amusement was literally a contagion. She let herself rest her head on Nautica’s smooth-plated shoulder for a few seconds as her equilibrium restored.

She expected Nautica to move first, but she never did. As the seconds stretched, Velocity forced herself to climb to her feet and offer Nautica a hand up. They were, after all on a schedule.

The sliding door into Nautica’s quarters was unlocked, just like most everything else on Caminus. It was another comfort for Velocity, who’d spent so much of recent months in the company of paranoid survivors of war. Nautica hung back, letting Velocity step inside first.

The room was quiet and dark. Velocity flicked on her headlights so that she could look around. This room was as delightfully simple as she remembered. The only evidence that anyone lived there was the messy stacks of datapads on the desk.

Well, Velocity had once found the bare simplicity of Nautica’s old room delightful, before she’d really stopped to consider the reasons for it. Before she’d thought to wonder how Nautica might decorate if she wasn’t surrounded by a world that she’d never quite fit into. The elements missing from the room suddenly seemed to be screaming out to her – the pictures of amica endurae, the posters from places they’d traveled, and the advanced engineering setup that brightened Nautica’s quarters now.

Nautica had stepped around Velocity as she’d been surveying the space and walked right up to a little table next to the berth. She opened a drawer and pulled out a mess of a radio, casing cut off on one side to make room for an extra coil and tangles of wiring. Velocity stepped closer so that she could help light the space as Nautica opened her bag of tools and sat cross-legged on the floor to work.

Velocity told herself that she was standing guard, but mostly she was watching Nautica. Being back here, in this place that wasn’t home but smelled just like it, watching Nautica work…it was a little like neither of them had ever left. This could have been any of a thousand quiet moments where Velocity had watched Nautica tinker, envying the deft movements of her fingers as she twisted and soldered, wondering what was going through her head. Velocity had left Caminus so soon after Nautica had, and she’d never quite realized how much she’d missed this. Missed Nautica.

Nautica had put most of the tools back in her bag and was tucking some wires back into the radio’s casing when Velocity heard footsteps. “Psst,” she warned Nautica, who had never been big on listening when she was absorbed in a project.

Nautica looked up from the radio and seemed to register the sound. She shoved the modified radio back in the drawer and leapt to her feet.

The footsteps stopped outside the door. Velocity switched off her headlights and grabbed Nautica’s arm. She pulled Nautica out to the balcony and shut the door just as she heard the inner door start to slide open.

Velocity shut off the processor pathways for everything but action. The rope they’d used to make their way up was on the ground, but the drop was only one story – not far enough to cause damage if they jumped. Velocity pointed at the ground, hoping that Nautica, pressed up against her side on the narrow balcony, would understand. Thankfully, Nautica responded by squeezing through the broken part of the railing and jumping down to the ground. Velocity followed, hoping that the noise wouldn’t alert the other Nautica.

As soon as they were around a corner and out of sight of the balcony, Nautica stopped to rearrange her hastily-packed tools. The alleyway that they were in opened up to a street that was starting to fill up with people, probably all on their way to post-Team-Meeting gossip sessions with friends. If Nautica were a different sort of person, she wouldn’t even be home yet. 

If Nautica were a different sort of person, they wouldn’t be doing this in the first place. 

“We should go back to the shuttle,” Nautica said when her bag was securely closed again.

“You don’t want to see how it turns out?”

“I do. But she won’t look at the radio until morning.”

Well, Nautica would know. They made their way back to the shuttle in silence.

-

When Velocity awoke in the morning, Nautica was cross-legged in the pilot’s chair, staring intently at the monitor attached to the navigation system. “Something wrong?” Velocity asked through a yawn.

“No!” Nautica squeaked. Velocity climbed to her feet to look over Nautica’s shoulder. On the screen in front of her was the inside of a familiar berthroom. “Is that your – her quarters?”

“I figured if anyone has a right to bug it, I do,” Nautica said, optics not moving from what looked like real-time video of the Nautica on the screen sitting cross-legged on the berth and fiddling with the dial on the radio.

Velocity refrained from complaining about privacy, or whatever objections might make sense here, mostly because she was curious to see what the Nautica in the video would do next.

The payoff came less than a minute later, as Nautica’s on-screen face went from serenity to confusion. Her fingers moved the dial back and forth minutely as the expression further turned into awe. After a few more minutes of fiddling, she stood, holding the radio like it was a fragile protoform. Then she left the room, turning the video into a stillframe behind her.

“It worked!” Nautica was grinning at the empty room on the screen.

Velocity squeezed her shoulder. “Ready to get back outside?” she asked.

Nautica’s grin faltered and she looked up at Velocity in confusion. “Outside?”

“To make sure she gets cleared to go study it.” Velocity managed to keep the implicit _obviously_ out of the sentence, but doubted that she’d succeeded at keeping it out of her tone.

Nautica sighed. “Fine. I suppose we have to follow through.”

Velocity couldn’t help but squeeze her amica’s shoulder again, this time in support rather than excitement. “As soon as we’re sure this worked, we’ll be off this planet for good. We don’t ever have to come back.”

Nautica’s smile was thin as she nodded.

The Nautica they were tracking was easy enough to find. They caught up with her in the plaza outside the government building, where the Mistress of Flame would be working. They didn’t _quite_ catch up with her, of course – they peeked around the least-conspicuous corner Velocity could think of while the other Nautica walked across the plaza, barely concealed excitement in every line of her frame.

“Hey friend! What’re you doing out and about at this hour?”

Velocity saw Nautica’s flinch from the alleyway and felt her Nautica behind her flinch in turn. Velocity watched, spark sinking, as Firestar swung an arm around this-reality-Nautica’s tensed shoulders.

“I was on my way to seek an audience with the Mistress of Flame,” Nautica said, tone self-conscious.

Behind Velocity, her Nautica cringed. “Don’t do it,” she whispered, even though she had to know that it was pointless. “Don’t _tell her_.”

Firestar reacted as poorly as she probably could. She laughed. “Why, Naughty Nautica! What in the stars do you want to talk to _her_ for?”

“I was scanning deep-space transmissions – it’s a hobby, I’ve quadrupled my range from when I started…not that it matters,” Nautica said, avoiding eye contact with Firestar by looking down at the radio. “And today I picked up something strange. I’d need access to Caminus’s sensors to learn more about it.”

Firestar laughed again. Velocity had never realized how much Firestar’s laugh made Velocity want to punch her. “Don’t you have better things to do than try to get the _Mistress_ to let you work with the _Titan_ because of some _static_?”

“It could be dangerous. Or…or helpful.”

Firestar shifted their positions so that her hands were resting on each of Nautica’s shoulders, towering over Nautica even without taking into account that pit-damned flame. “Piece of advice, Nautica?” Firestar’s words were canted like a question, but she didn’t give Nautica any time to answer. “Don’t embarrass yourself. Fiddle with your toys in your off-hours, but don’t waste the Mistress’s time on this nonsense.”

“Okay.” If Velocity wasn’t so attuned to Nautica’s voice, she might not have heard the word that dispersed into the plaza’s thin air. Nautica tensed behind her.

“Well, I’m off to rehearse with my new team. We should catch up sometime!” Firestar said with a blinding smile that Velocity would have loved to slap off her face. She clapped Nautica on the shoulder and sauntered off across the plaza.

Still standing in the plaza, Nautica seemed frozen in place, staring down at her radio as the seconds ticked by. Then, slowly, as if she wasn’t sure that she was making the right decision, she turned around, away from the government building.

Nope. This would not do.

Velocity heard Nautica’s warning hiss as she marched out of their hiding spot and into the plaza. The pale light of Caminus’s sun hit her and she shunted warnings about the massive risk she was taking to the back of her mind. _This would not do_.

“Nautica!” Velocity made sure to position herself behind Nautica, so that she’d have to turn back toward the government building to look at her.

Nautica whipped around, her expression relaxing into a tiny smile. Velocity carefully avoided looking at her Nautica hidden in the alley, who was bombarding her with radio pings. “Lotty! How are you?”

“Pretty good.” Velocity walked the rest of the way up to Nautica, close enough for a conversation. With effort, she kept herself from touching her – she wanted this conversation to be as little like the one with Firestar as possible. “You?”

Nautica’s smile disappeared as she looked down at the radio, resigned like Velocity hadn’t seen her in years. “Had an idea, then…had a rethink,” she said, voice tight, not looking at Velocity at all.

“What was the idea?” Velocity asked, infusing her voice with as much interest as she could. It was enough to get a flicker of a glance from Nautica before she went back to intently watching as her fingers stroked over the wires sticking out of the modified radio.

“I started getting a transmission on this thing that’s unlike anything I’ve heard before,” Nautica said. “I wanted to try and get permission to use Caminus’s sensors to learn more about it – how far away it is, and any other information about the source that I could find. But…the Mistress and Caminus are too busy providing for our people, they don’t have time for my pet project.”

“Why did you want to look?” Velocity asked.

“It doesn’t _matter_ , Lotty. I was going home anyway.”

Velocity couldn’t help but reach for Nautica, wrapping a gentle hand around her arm. “It must matter. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come out here,” she said. “Why did you want to look?”

Nautica was silent for a moment. Velocity waited. Whatever else Nautica may be, she was _good_ , and Velocity knew she wanted to do this for good reasons. “It’s not impossible that the signal is coming from a deep-space anomaly that could be used as an energy source,” she said, finally peeking up at Velocity, just enough to gauge her reaction. Velocity nodded, urging her to continue. “It’s a long shot, but…maybe it pans out.”

“If there’s a way to harness energy from deep space and use it to power Caminus, that would change _everything_ ,” Velocity said. She pitched her voice a little bit louder, wanting the Nautica in the shadows behind her to hear too. “You were clever enough to see this and you’re smart enough to figure out what it means. Don’t turn away just because nobody else can see that.” Velocity realized that her hand was still on Nautica’s upper arm, and she kept it there, trying not to tense it as she waited for Nautica to respond.

“I want to find out,” Nautica finally said, and Velocity couldn’t contain a full smile at the relief that she’d said something other than just _okay_. That she’d decided for herself instead of just listening to Velocity like she’d listened to Firestar.

“I have to get going,” Velocity said, forcing her hands back down. “I’d say good luck, but you won’t need it. You’ve got this.”

She didn’t wait for Nautica’s reply, just walked off to the side, making sure she wouldn’t draw this Nautica’s gaze toward her Nautica. Her Nautica met her at the back of the alley she used to exit the plaza, arms sternly crossed but obviously fighting a grin.

“You shouldn’t have done that. What if the other you had walked by?”

“Couldn’t risk the alternative.” Velocity shrugged, trying to convey that really, she hadn’t _decided_ to go talk to Nautica. She’d just done it.

“I saw her go into the building,” Nautica said. “I suppose you still want to stick around and play her sliver?”

“You know me too well.” Velocity swung her arm around her amica’s shoulders and waited until Nautica’s arms uncrossed, then she pulled her close.

Nautica’s arms went tight around Velocity and Nautica rested her chin on Velocity’s shoulder. “Thank you –”

“I’m sorry –”

Both of them paused, and Velocity loosened her arms so she could look at Nautica properly. “You first,” Nautica insisted.

“I’m sorry I failed you back then,” Velocity said, all of the feelings she’d pushed down in the past half-day coming to the surface now that she’d made herself an outlet for them. “I was totally blind to how unhappy you were, when I could have helped, somehow. I should have paid more attention and I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t fail me.” Nautica’s voice was gently incredulous. “I…wasn’t happy. I thought that was obvious. But I was happy when I was with you.”

“I could have done better.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Nautica said. “Not anymore.”

-

Nautica didn’t come out of the government building for the rest of the day. Velocity hoped that it was a good sign – the Cityspeakers’ tower was attached to the Mistress of Flame’s office, so if Nautica was granted _immediate_ access to the computers she needed, of course she’d be inside all day.

Or maybe there was a long line. Or something. Velocity was working on tempering her optimism. 

Nautica was freer to walk around when they knew this-reality-Nautica’s whereabouts but could only guess at this-reality-Velocity’s. She left at one point to get energon treats from Velocity’s old favorite shop, which happened to be just across the same plaza. They split the goods while camped out in the same alley, one of them always keeping watch on the government building’s door.

The sky had taken on the deeper-blue tinge that indicated Camien evening when Velocity saw the doors open and Nautica walk out, absent the radio. Velocity tensed, waiting for some indication of how the day had gone. Nautica’s arms were loose and relaxed at her sides, not crossed like they would have been if something that had happened in there had made her feel scared or vulnerable. But Velocity still couldn’t be _sure_.

“Oh no.” Nautica’s words in Velocity’s audial had Velocity focusing even more intensely on the Nautica walking through the plaza, certain that there was something about her she was missing. So she didn’t notice the problem until a familiar figure had caught up to that Nautica and hooked their elbows together.

“What are you doing out here? Are you free tonight?” this-reality-Velocity asked Nautica as they fell in step with each other.

Velocity pursed her lips as she watched this-reality-Nautica tilt her head at the words – words that wouldn’t make sense if that Velocity had seen Nautica this morning. “It took half the day to find the signal on Caminus’s scanners, and once I did, the Mistress wanted to organize a team to go study it _immediately_. The anomaly is emitting massive amounts of radiation that could be picked up by a quantum-capable engine and turned into usable energy.” 

“Huh?” Velocity’s response was appropriately skeptical, for someone who had most definitely _not_ talked to Nautica this morning. “You seem happy, and that’s great! I’m excited for you. I just…what are you talking about? What signal?”

Nautica stepped closer to Velocity, keeping their arms linked together. They’d stopped walking. “The deep-space transmission I told you about this morning.”

“Did you comm me about it? I was working in the hospital, maybe some of the medical technology interfered with the reception –”

“No it was…right here.” Nautica’s optics scanned the plaza, and Velocity flattened herself against the alley wall to ensure that Nautica couldn’t see her. When she dared to peek back around the corner, Nautica was pulling Velocity into a tight hug.

“I missed something,” the other Velocity said as she hugged Nautica back. From the alley, Velocity couldn’t see the other Velocity’s expression but could imagine the shape of the warm smile she’d be sporting at a moment like this. Nautica had never been big on initiating touch, and when she did, it had always felt like Velocity had won a prize.

“This might sound crazy,” Nautica said. “But all of today has been crazy, so, why not? I saw you this morning, here, in this plaza. Only…it wasn’t you, obviously. I think it was something more complex than I can understand yet, some kind of cosmic force, guiding me. I think it’s the same reason my radio picked up that signal today, when I’ve been tinkering with it for ages. There’s something pushing me toward studying this, and it called out to me using a voice I would listen to.”

Velocity, in Nautica’s arms, laughed gently with surprise. “Gosh, I –”

Nautica didn’t let her finish. “Come with me?” she said. “The Mistress is working with me to put a team together. She wants a Cityspeaker trainee to go, just in case her expertise helps us understand whatever it is, and a security officer, but…don’t all deep space missions need a medic?”

“I’m not a medic,” Velocity said, and in the alley Velocity had to stifle a laugh, because _that was her objection_? “I haven’t passed my exams –”

“So pass them,” Nautica said, placing her hands on Velocity’s shoulders and pulling back so that she could look Velocity in the eye. “Take them again. I know you’re ready.”

“You really want me to go?” Velocity asked.

“I don’t want to be anywhere without you.”

Velocity could see what was about to happen, but wasn’t _completely_ sure until Nautica had leaned in and was kissing Velocity, Velocity’s hand caressing her cheek.

In the alley, Nautica setting her hand on Velocity’s shoulder brought her back to the present moment – reminded her that they were outsiders here. With her optics still on the two kissing in the plaza, Velocity couldn’t seem to ignore the fluttering that started up in her chassis at the contact. Couldn’t push it away, the way she’d done for so long.

“Seen enough?” Nautica’s voice wasn’t angry, to Velocity’s relief. It wasn’t excited either, maybe…apprehensive? Amused?

Velocity tore her eyes away from their this-reality selves to focus back on the Nautica she’d come here with. She was careful, as she turned toward her, not to dislodge Nautica’s hand from her shoulder. “I think I have,” she said, struggling to keep her face neutral as the corners of her mouth threatened to turn into a joyous smile.

Nautica acknowledged her with a small, tight smile of her own and then took her hand off Velocity’s shoulder, leaving her cold as Nautica led her away from the plaza.

-

“Is it crazy that I think she might be right?” Velocity asked, when they were back on the shuttle and Nautica had set their course to rendezvous with the Lost Light.

“What?” 

“When I walked out there, to convince her to turn back around –” Velocity hesitated. She couldn’t figure out how to phrase this in a way that would make any kind of sense. “I didn’t plan it. I barely _thought_ about it. I just…knew what I had to do, and I did it. It was like I was…being pulled to her, by something other than triage subroutines and logic…it was so stupid, you were right, but I _had_ to do it.”

“You’re right,” Nautica said.

That was the _last_ response Velocity had expected. What she’d expected had ranged from a gentle “You’re making things up” to a full quantum physics explanation of what had _really_ been going on, that was, in its own roundabout way, a gentle “you’re making things up.”

It was Velocity’s turn to voice an incredulous “What?”

“I think you’re right – there was a force outside my understanding –as far as I know, outside anyone’s understanding – that got involved in our plans today.”

“Really?” Velocity had really, _really_ not expected to be right.

“Yeah. I even know what it’s called.”

“You _do_?”

Nautica’s gaze was soft as she looked sideways at Velocity. “Yeah. I’d call it love.”

Velocity shut off her optics. If she didn’t ask now, she doubted she’d ever get up the courage. “Did you always know?”

“I knew,” Nautica said. “I thought about proposing amica, back then. You were interested, and I…I liked you too. Obviously. But Firestar had sort of soured me to the whole concept, so I never did. If you’d ever asked, though, I would have accepted.”

“I never asked because I didn’t want you to think I was anything like her. I wanted you to know that I’d be your friend without leaning on a pushy system that had never worked for you.” Velocity had to laugh at the absurdity of it, even as the breadth of what they’d missed out on was becoming less and less funny as she thought about it. Pursuing a romance with someone who wasn't already your amica was unheard of on Caminus, and they'd unwittingly spent so long blocking themselves off from even the possibility. 

“You were almost right,” Nautica said. “Before I met our crew, I didn’t understand how the whole endurae system could actually bring anyone joy. I thought it was all just…performance. Like it is – was, I suppose – with Firestar, just maybe not quite to the same degree. Joining the Lost Light was like getting an engine to turn over for the first time. When you get along with everyone around you, it’s easier to see when you have something special with someone – something that warrants celebration. We’d always had that.”

“And we found each other again, way out in space.” Velocity turned to look at Nautica, who had turned on autopilot by now to get them back to the Lost Light. “Could that also have been that mysterious force?”

Nautica flicked her optics away, focusing out the front window. “Lotty, I’m sorry, I – I can’t think about this right now,” she said. “If you’d brought it up before I met Skids, or even just…maybe even before he died, we could be kissing in a plaza somewhere too. But right now…Skids, Nightbeat, new universe, all this stuff to deal with…I can’t do it. It’s too much.”

“That’s okay,” Velocity said, looking out the window to where she thought she could see the Lost Light in the distance in front of them. “What matters right now is that we made it work for them.” Velocity jerked her finger behind them, to where they could no longer see Caminus in the distance.

Nautica caught Velocity’s hand in midair and laced their fingers together. She didn’t have to speak for Velocity to understand what she meant by it: _right now, being amica matters too._

**Author's Note:**

> [Love is the one thing in the universe we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Brm4g4HPU)
> 
> Big thanks to my buddy notwhelmedyet for the beta!


End file.
